Monday, July 11, 2011

Naughty

Even when I was in high school I knew the line from The Little Mermaid "Betcha on land they understand that they don’t reprimand their daughters" was hilarious. It’s even funnier now with a daughter of my own. Who needs to be reprimanded quite frequently in fact. For instance last night, when she and her brother ran away from home. At bedtime. In their jammies. To the neighbor’s house.

I’m not entirely sure what they thought they were doing. We had been over to the neighbor’s that evening, splashing around in their wading pool in the backyard. Neither Kirk nor Veronica wanted to leave, despite it being bedtime. Thankfully the neighbor helped get them out of there by deflating the pool and dumping out the water. We all went home, got dried off, and into pajamas. While I was gathering wet clothes for the laundry I realized they had gone outside. Which, strictly speaking, was enough to get them into trouble but I was going to let it slide, thinking they were just in the backyard. I stepped outside to shoo them in and realized they weren’t actually in our yard. I started calling for them and noticed they were two houses over, about to go through the back gate to the neighbor’s that we had just left. They hustled over so fast when they saw and heard how mad I was. Mr. b yelled at them big time and Kirk blamed Ronnie, of course, and Ronnie was in tears and they were sent straight to bed and they’re grounded from TV. Kirk tried to suggest they get grounded from going outside. Yeah right. Nice try buddy.

The ironic thing is that just that afternoon, we got set up with cameras to record Ronnie’s temper tantrums. When the kids were born I signed each of them up to be participants in various child development studies with the University. Kirk’s gone in a few times to do various cognitive development tests, like play with blocks and look at pictures. Simple stuff, quick and easy and fun. A couple of months ago they called about one for Veronica. Initially it was just a survey about how she reacts during a tantrum and how frequently they happen and how long they last. I knew she’d get picked for the larger study and sure enough, she did. They’re researching aggression and using toddlers as their human baseline, because they don’t yet have societal pressure altering their behavior. Obviously they need a lot of raw data for such a complicated statistical model so they’re taping 100 toddlers having three tantrums each. The research assistant came by yesterday and got the cameras in place and walked us through the paperwork. I already have a tantrum for her to come and download. Ronnie freaked out about a) fruit snacks [she’s only allowed one packet a day] and b) not coming to the grocery store with Mama. It’s not even the biggest, baddest one she’s ever had. But it certainly had many of the unique behaviors they’re cataloging – stomping, crying, hitting, yelling, walking away, reaching for comfort – so it definitely qualifies. I think we’re going to get our allotted three tantrums filled up in a hurry. I wonder what’s the fastest any family has completed the inventory? We’re just excited to have witnesses.

4 comments:

Emily said...

You know, between this and the birthing/breastfeeding conversation I had at work last week, you are totally convincing me that having kids is hard! (oh yeah, like I didn't know that before!)

But I will say, it's totally awesome that you signed up your kids for experiments. I mean, I read the results of those studies all the time. I did lots when I was in college, but that was mostly for course credit :)

belsum said...

Well yes, it's hard. But honestly, the image of them sneaking over there and then slinking back home after getting busted was just SO EFFING HILARIOUS that I was cracking up remembering it all day. Cute and naughty.

You'd love this study. It's totally right up your alley. I hope they share the final paper with us once the work is done. It seems just plain cool. (Of course I do have an Anthropology degree so...)

Emily said...

If you see a copy, send it over my way. I'd totally love to read it. I've been doing so much reading right now for my work - there's so much fascinating research and just... EVERYTHING out there. I'd spend all day reading it if I could. But apparently, learning about my job isn't as important as actually doing my job.

belsum said...

I forgot to ask about the final paper when the RA was picking up footage last week. I'll have to look into it next time she comes by.